CSK planned to send Dhoni to Johannesburg as an icon to develop their brand, but all doors of possibilities have met the dead-end due to the BCCI policy. The only way for Dhoni to join CSK or any overseas teams is by retiring from the IPL.
CSK are not alone as the other five teams spend their money on buying teams in South Africa. Mumbai Indians bought Cape Town, meanwhile, Lucknow SuperGiants tried their luck on Durban. The rest of them are Sunrises Hyderabad (Port Elizabeth), Delhi Capitals (Pretoria), and Rajasthan Royals (Paarl).
Not only in South Africa but the Indian cricket franchises also recently invested in the UAE for their T20 league. The likes of Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders have expanded their brand to the rich-oil country. Before UAE, the Indian teams also occupied the Caribbean Premier League with Kolkata Knight Riders, Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals spending their money there.
Former Australian captain, Adam Gilchrist has been questioning the BCCI concept of not allowing their players to play abroad. But later on, he admitted that he was “not criticizing” the idea.
”I’m not criticizing the IPL, but why won’t Indian players come and play in the Big Bash league?” he said.
“I’ve never had an open and honest answer: Why are some leagues accessing every player in the world? No Indian player plays in any other T20 league.”
The answer
Responding to Gilchrist's question, former IPL President Sunil Gavaskar, who is also India’s cricket living legend, points out the reason why there are still no Indian players to play abroad.
He explained that the decision was to protect the Indian cricket players from any unnecessary off-pitch distractions.
“They are concerned about their cricket, which is totally understandable,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“But when Indian cricket looks to protect its cricket by ensuring that their players stay fresh for their matches and thus restricting them from playing overseas, that is not acceptable to the guys from the ‘old powers,’
Gavaskar also mentioned that there the world only wants to take advantage of Indian players, not the other human resources who have a significant impact on the cricket world.
He even criticized the Australian domestic league which he thinks is overly dominated by the Australian players and coaches, adding that there was hypocrisy in how the ‘old powers’ of cricket are dealing with this issue.
“They are talking only about the Indian players being made available for their country’s leagues but not the support staff or others who also can do a wonderful job as the cricketing world has found out over the last half dozen years or so,” Gavaskar said.
